Snow remover of the rotary type



Nov. 20, 1956 R. o. GETTLEMAN 2,

SNOW REMOVER OF THE ROTARY TYPE Filed July 3, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

y ROBERT C. GETTELMAN 50 I48 I52 ATTORNEY Nov. 20, 1956 R. o. GETTLEMAN 2,

SNOW REMOVER OF THE ROTARY TYPE Filed July 3, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I so I 40 INVENTOR. Fl Ch. I 0 BY ROBERT O.6ETTELMAN WM. W

A-r-roanav Nov. 20, 1956 Rjo. GETTLEMAN 2,

SNOW REMOVER OF THE ROTARY TYPE Filed July 3, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 L 9' I88 50 FIG. H

JNVENTOR. Roeem- O. GETTELMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent f 2,770,894 SNOW REMOVER OF THE ROTARY TYPE Robert O. Gettelman, Pewaukee, Wis., assignor to Wisconsin Marine Company, Pewaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application July 3, 1952, Serial No. 297,020

9 Claims. (CI. 37-43) This invention relates to improvements in snow removers and grass cutters of the rotary type interchangeably connected with and operated by power driven tractors and to power driven work devices having rotary work units detachably connected thereto.

In such snow removers of the presently known design the rotor or blower is forced into engagement with the snow by the forward movement of the power drive unit. If the snow is wet and heavy or packed, crusted or icy, such snow removers will clog and become ineffective or require so much operative power as to be economically unfeasible.

It is an object of this invention therefore to provide a snow remover of the rotary type which will not clog with wet and heavy snow conditions and which may be operated by a relatively small economic pedestrian-guided power tractor.

A further object of this invention is to provide a power driven work device to which a rotary work unit may be easily and quickly detachably connected.

A still further object is to provide a grass cutter of the rotary type which may be easily connected and disconnected from a power driven tractor from which is receives rotary power. I

The first of these objects is obtained by mounting a high speed rotor so that it revolves about an axis transverse to the normal direction of travel of the plow and placing a slower speed feeding reel also revolving about an axis transverse to such direction of travel just ahead of and in partial overlapped relation to said rotor so that it delivers snow or the like directly to the side of said rotor. The rotor picks ofr snow from the inner ends of blades on the reel at a greater speed and volumetric rate than those blades can deliver such snow. This direct form of delivery does require the forward movement of the tractor, thus preventing any tendency of the rotor to clog. Both the rotor and the reel are rotated in the same direction as the wheels of the power driven tractor when the plow is moving forwardly. Thus the reel, as it comes into contact with a body of snow, helps to move the device forward and thus assists the power driven tractor. The reel rotates at about 50 R. P. M. and the tractor advances at rates varying from about 90 to 264 feet per minute. The forward rate is adjusted to snow conditions and depth of snow. The rotor revolves at about 1200 R. P. M. and hence acts both as an impeller for throwing the snow and a grinder for breaking up chunksof snow. This method of handling snow requires less driving power than heretofore required, making it possible to construct the entire unit at a low enough cost to be within the purchasing range of home owners who have both snow removal and grass cutting problems.

The second of these objects is obtained by providing the power driven tractor with an upper forwardly projecting connector adapted to receive and pivotally mount the upper mounting tube on the rotary work element and a lower forwardly projecting connector having open ended 2,770,894 Patented Nov. 20, 1956 ice valined with the tube on the work element and a bolt or pivot pin placed therein. Then by lowering the guide post the end of the work unit is lifted to swing the projections into the angled slots. Any well known clamping device may be used to hold the projections in the slot and make a rigid connection.

The tractor is provided with a belt type power take-off pulley and belt tensioner type of clutch. Each rotary work unit has a power transmission belt which may be readily slipped on and off such pulley when the clutch is held in disengaged position. Thus the same tractor may be used to carry and drive rotary work elements such as rotary snow removers and rotary lawn cutters.

The novel features, which are considered characteristic of the invention, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a power driven tractor and snow remover of the rotary type embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device viewed in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of the snow remover, part being broken away and shown in section;

Fig. 4 is-an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the meandering line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view taken from the line 6-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the lever and lock for the clutch tensioning device;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of of Fig. 2;

Fig. 10'is a fragmentary view in side elevation of the device for providing a quick connection between the tractor and snow remover or other rotary work element;

Fig. 11 is a view in side elevation of a grass cutter of the rotary type adapted to be carried and driven by the power driven tractor, the forward part of the tractor being shown in broken line; i

Fig. 12 is a top plan view of the grass cutter viewed in Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a bottom plan view of the grass cutter viewed in Fig. 11;

Fig. 14 is a sectional view taken on the line 14-14 of Fig. 11;

Fig. I5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 15-15 of Fig. 14; and

Fig. 16 is an exploded view of the connectors by which the power driven tractor and the rotary work unit are connected.

In the power driven work devices illustrated in the drawings a power driven tractor 10 provides the support,

the tractive power and the rotative power for the rotary work units, which may be selectively a snow remover or a grass cutte'r. Both of these work units are detachably connected to the power driven tractor and rotative power is supplied to the work elements by a flexible belt connected to the power sheave of the tractor.

The power driven tractor 10 may be steered and tilted 3 by an upwardly slanting guide post 12 the lower end of which is secured to a bracket 14 bolted or otherwise secured to the frame and the upper end of which has a handle bar 16. The frame may consist of a curved tubular upper member 18 which is rigidly secured to a transverse axle bearing 22 and a lower curved tubular member 20 which is welded at its top end to the upper member 18 and at its bottom end to the axle bearing 22.

The mounting base for the engine comprises twotransverse platforms 24 and 26 rigidly secured to the upper tubular member 18 by depending members 28 which encircle such member and are welded thereto. As shown in Figs. 2 and 6 this construction permits the platform to be offset from the center of the tractor.

As most clearly shown in Fig. the means by which the rotary work units are detachably secured to the power tractor 10 includes an upper forwardly projecting connector 32 rigidly secured to the uppertubular member 18 and provided with alined holes 34 in the side flanges thereof for receiving a through-bolt 36. The lower forwardly projecting connector is formed by spaced arms 38 rigidly secured to the frame or axle bearing and having angled slots 40 for receiving projections on the connectors of the rotary work unit. These slots are angled so that as the tractor and work unit are relatively pivoted about the bolt 36 the projections on the work unit will slide into such slots.

Power for the tractor is supplied by a conventional air-cooled internal combustion engine 42 which is bolted to the base of the tractor and offset to one side as is shown in Figs. 2 and 6. The engine has a first speed reducer 44 with a power take-off shaft 46 carrying a drive sprocket 48 for transmitting driving power to the wheels of the tractor and a driving pulley 50 for supplying rotative power to the work unit.

The transmission for the driving wheels may be a complete unit, the housing of which acts as part of the tractor frame or as shown herein an intermediate shaft 52 is mounted in a bearing 54 positioned between the upper and lower frame members 18 and by a plate 56 (see Fig. 6) weldedto such members. This intermediate shaft supports a clutch 58 and a driven sprocket 60 connected by a chain 62 to driving sprocket 48. A second reduction gearing 64 is carried by such intermediate shaft and has a power take-off shaft with a pair of drive sprockets 6S and 70 of different sizes. The clutch 58 is operated by a pivoted lever 72 interconnected by linkage 74 to a control rod 76 positioned on the guide post 12 where it may be easily handled by the operator. A pair of pneumatic tired drive wheels 78 of standard design each have a one-way drive. connection to an axle 80 mounted in the axle bearing 22. This axle is driven alternatively by driven sprockets 82 and 84. The drive sprocket 68 and driven sprocket 82 or the drive sprocket 70 and driven sprocket 84 may be selectively connected by a chain 86. The entire transmission effects sufficient reduction to provide a forward speed of about 90 feet per minute with sprockets 68-82 connectedor about 264 feet per minute with sprockets 70-84 connected. The slower speed is more generally used when driving the snow remover while the higher speed is used with the grass cutter, particularly where a sulky is hitched to the cutter.

A clutch for disconnecting the power take-off pulley 50 on the tractor from the driven pulley on the work element consists of a tensioner for the interconnecting belt. A supporting plate 88 secured to the speed reducer 44 carries a bearing 90 supporting a rotatable shaft 92 to which are connected a spring arm 94,a pulley arm 96 and a handle 98. A coil tension spring 100 extending between the spring arm 96 and an anchoring lug 102 on the plate 32 continually urges a pulley 104 on the pulley arm 96 into engagement with the connecting belt. When the handle 98 is moved in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 the belt tensioning; pulley 104 will be removed from such belt and no power will be transmitted. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8 a spring pressed bolt 106 carried on the supporting plate 88 may be locked against the handle 98 to hold the belt tensioner in disengaged position.

The rotary snow remover shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive has a housing which constitutes the frame and support for the revolving parts. A relatively narrow rearwardly extending part 108 of the housing encloses the high speed rotor and provides a support therefor. A relatively wide forwardly projecting part 110 is open at the front and encloses a lower speed feeding reel. The parts 108 and 110 communicate with one another through an opening 112. The rear part 108 has an upwardly extending discharge manifold 114 which as shown in Fig. 3 is bifurcated to provide openings to either side. A deflector valve 11.6 or blade is pivoted within such manifold and is swung by a handle 118 to close off one of the openings and open the other to control to which side of the remover the snow will be projected. A pair of guides 120 are pivotedly connected to the manifold so that their angular relation to the horizontal may be adjusted. A support arm 122 carries a locking device 124 (see Fig. 9) which engages links 126 secured to the guides 120. By loosening the hand screw of the locking device 124, the angularity of each guide may be adjusted to control the angle at which the snow will be ejected from the manifold and thus control the length of its throw.

The snow remover is detachably connected to the power driven tractor 10 by connectorswhich consist of an upper tube 126 adapted to receive the through-bolt 36 (see Fig. 14) and a lower tube 128, both rigidly secured to the part 108. The lower tube 128 has a pair of threaded projections 130 which are adapted to fit into the slots 40.

A high speed rotor or snow impeller consists of a disk 132 mounted on a shaft 134 rotatably carried in bearing journals 136 secured to the sides of portion 108. The disk 132 carries two pairs of blades 138, one pair on each side thereof. The blades 138 of each pair are diametrically positioned while the pairs are angularly spaced 90 degrees. The blades 138 project laterally from the surface of the disk as shown and their outer edges are spaced slightly from the inner surface of part 108. The projecting end of the shaft 134 carries a driven pulley 140 and a driving sprocket 142. A flexible drive belt 144 interconnects the driven pulley 140 and the driving pully 50 whereby the high speed rotor is rotated at approximately 1,200 R. P. M. to have a peripheral speed of about 4,200 feet per minute. The blades 138 are angled with respect to radius of the disk 132 approximately 15 (see Fig. 4) with the outer edge leading. The angulation is critical in that when the blades first contact snow from the feeder reel the snow will be drawn inwardly through the opening 112 between the parts 108 and 110, but as the snow accelerates there is not enough pitch to prevent the snow from being thrown outwardly by centrifugal force through the manifold 114.

A slow speed feeding reel consists of a shaft 146 mounted in bearings 148 secured to the inner wall of the housing part 110. This shaft has a pair of arms 150 rigidly secured thereto at each side of the center thereof. On each arm there is rigidly mounted a blade 152. As indicated the plane of these blades is angled at 41 (see Fig. 3) to the longitudinal axis shaft 146 with the outer end of the blade advanced in the direction of rotation. This angle is critical at least at 50 R. P. M. Too small an angle will cause too much resistance to rotation. Too large an angle will not feed enough snow to the impeller. The outer edges of the blades are curved to conform with the cylindrical shape of the housing part 110. The arms 150 are angularly spaced degrees so that only one. blade is brought into snow cutting position at one time. While one blade is cutting into the body of the snow. the other blades are delivering snow that has. al-

ready been cut'to the impeller. As is seefi from an inspection of Figs. 3 and 5 the inner ends of the blades 152 are spaced only a slight amount from the outer edges of the blades 138. Thus snow need be thrown only a minute distance from the feeder reel to the impeller. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the impeller and the reel are in overlapping relationship, the amount of such overlap being approximately 4 /2 inches as indicated at 0. This assures the mechanical transfer of particles of snow from the feeder to the impeller and prevents clogging which occurs when snow is merely pushed as a body from a worm type feeder to a blower. 1

The feeder reel is driven from the impeller through a speed reduction transmission which lowers the speed of the feeder reel to 50 R. P. M. This transmission consists of a countershaft 154 mounted in a bearing bracket 156 and supports a sprocket 158 driven by a chain 160 from the driver sprocket 142 and a driving sprocket 162 connected by a chain 164 to a driven sprocket 166 on the shaft 146. The feeder speed of 50 R. P. M., the impeller speed of 1,200 R. P. M., and a forward travel of approximately 90 feet per minute combine to have each blade bite into the snow and remove enough snow to continuously feed snow to the impeller in a steady flow. Since each particle of snow is being moved as a separate unit and is not being moved by a body of snow there is no clogging even with wet heavy snow. The impeller accelerates the velocity of particles of snow enough to project the snow through the discharge chute for distances of approximately 30 feet. The blade type feeder has advantages over a worm type feeder. The inner ends of the blades on one side of the impeller will pass chunks of packed snow or blocks of ice back and forth cutting off small pieces during the process and letting the chunk or block come into momentary contact with the edge of the impeller which then acts as a grinding wheel wearing away such chunk or block. This takes place without hindering the flow of normally conditioned snow.

The rotary grass cutter shown in Figs. 11 to 15 inclusive is adapted to be detachably connected to the power driven tractor in the same manner as the rotary snow remover. When attached it is moved forward by the tractor and at the same time receives rotative power from the pulley 50 thereof. The grass cutter comprises a base 168 having depending sides 170, an angularly projecting front 172, and a rear skirt 174. There are extending aprons 176 secured to each of the sides 170 to provide protection for the cutter which extends beyond such sides. The base 168 is supported at its forward end by wheels 178 secured in suitable fashion to brackets 180 mounted on the base 168. It is desirable to provide a swingedly mounted hoop 182 at the forward end which may be tilted from operative to inoperative position (shown in broken line) when it is desired to cut close to the base of shrubbery or the like.

The rotating cutter includes a cone-shaped disk 184 secured to the lower end of a shaft 186 mounted in a bearing 188. The disk may be adjusted vertically of such shaft by the changing of variable sized washers 190 (see Fig. Cutting blades 192 positioned at each quadrant of the disk are of standard design and have their leading edges sharpened. These blades are interchangeable and may be inverted to furnish a fresh sharpened edge. If a blade is damaged it is a very inexpensive and simple matter to exchange it for a new one. The shaft 186 projects through the top of base 168 into a pillow block 194 and one of a pair of bevel gears 196 secured thereto. A horizontal shaft carried by such pillow block carries the other one of said bevel gears 196 and a belt driven pulley 198. Rotation of such pulley in a vertical plane thereby causes rotation of the disk 184 in a horizontal plane. A domelike housing 200 is positioned over the bevel gears 196 and driven pulley 198. This housing has a l 202 through which a drive belt 204 extends when connected to the driving pulley Sll 6n the tractor; It should be noted that the rear skirt 174 extends downwardly far enough so that its bottom is as low as the cutting blades 192 when the disk 184 is in its lowest position. This protects the operator from being hit by any stones or the like thrown by the blades or by pieces broken from the blades.

A novel characteristic of this grass cutter is that the path of the blades 192 projects beyond the sides 170, thus permitting the width of the cut to extend from wheel to wheel. The aprons provide protection and yet do not unduly increase the weight of the device.

The grass cutter is connected and disconnected from the power driven tractor 10 in the same manner as the snow remover. To effect this there is an upwardly extending arm 206 having at its outer end a hollow tube 208 adapted to fit within mounting member 32 of the tractor and be secured thereto by a throughbolt 36. A pair of spaced brackets 210 are secured to the skirt 174 below arm 206 and a tie member 212 extending therebetween has threaded projections 214 which fit into the slots 40. When nuts 216 are secured to these projections, the units are rigidly locked together.

In connecting the power driven tractor to either of the work elements it is not necessary directly to lift either element or tractor. By guiding the tractor through its handle the mounting member 32 may be raised, lowered and swung into proper alinement with the mounting tube (126 or 208) on the work element and the bolt 36 put in place. Thereafter the work element may be raised by merely letting the handle of the tractor move downwardly. This automatically swings the projections or 214) into the slots 40. The over-balance of the tractor will then be suflicient to keep the tractor and the work element so connected until the nuts are put on the projections to rigidly clamp the unit in place. When so fastened a rigid unit is created and the work element may be lifted by the tractor so that the entire device may be turned in a horizontal plane on the tractor wheel.

Although only one embodiment of the invention is shown and described herein, it will be understood that this application is intended to cover such changes or modifications as come within the spirit of the invention or scope of the following claims:

I claim:

1. A snow remover adapted for forward movement along a normal line of travel, a high speed rotor for ejecting snow having an axis of rotation transverse of said line of travel, a housing for said rotor having a discharge opening, a lower speed feeder reel having a substantially horizontal axis of rotation transverse of said line of travel, said feeder reel having its axis positioned forwardly of the peripheral circumferential path of travel of said rotor and close enough thereto so that in operation said feeder reel overlaps said rotor to deliver snow directly to the side of said rotor, and a housing for said feeder reel having a snow receiving opening, there being an opening between said housings.

2. A snow remover as claimed in claim 1 in which said high speed rotor comprises a mounting plate having laterally projecting blades spaced angularly evenly about said axis of rotation of said rotor with the longitudinal axis of said blades tilted with respect to the radii of the axis of rotation of said rotor approximately 15 with the outer ends leading.

3. A snow remover as claimed in claim 1 in which said feeder reel has a pair of diametrically disposed blades angled with respect to said axis of rotation of said reel with the outer ends of said blades leading.

4. A snow remover as claimed in claim 3 in which said blades are pitched to said axis approximately 41 with the outer ends of said blades advanced in the direction of rotation.

5. A snow remover as claimed in claim 1 in which both said rotor and said reel rotate in the same direction 7 with the peripheral travel at the bottom thereof being toward the rear of said remover whereby said forward movementis assisted.

6. A snow remover as claimed in claim 1 in which said, high speed rotor comprises a single fiat member having laterally projecting blades spacedangularly evenly about said axis of rotation of said rotor and said feeder reel has a pair of diametrically disposed blades angled with respect to said axis of rotation of said reel with the outer ends of said blades leading, the inner ends of said reel blades being slightly spaced from the lateral edges of said rotor blades whereby said rotor picks up snow fed by said reel.

7. A snow remover as claimed in claim 6 in which the longitudinal axis of said rotor blades are tilted with rc- 15 spect to the radii of the axis of rotation of said rotor approximately 15 with the outer ends leading and in which said feeder blades are pitched to said axis approximately 41 with the outer ends of said blades advanced in the direction of rotation.

8. In a material handling device, a shaft mounted for rotation, a feeder reel having blades carried by said shaft and spaced on opposite sides of the longitudinal central portion of said shaft, said blades being angled with respect to the axis of rotation of said shaft with the outer ends of said blades leading in the direction of rotation whereby said blades when rotating tend to move material fed thereto toward said central portion, and an impeller rotating in a plane normal to said axis of rotation having its peripheral circumferential path of travel spaced rearwardly ofasaid centralportion, said impeller extending in between. the blades on opposite sides of said central portion, said impeller having lateral projections adapted to impart, velocity to material delivered thereto by said blades.

9. A material handling device as claimed in claim 8 in which; said rotor revolves at approximately 1,200 R. P. M. and rotary motion transmission means interconnects said feeder reel and said impeller so that said feeder reel revolves at approximately 50 R. P. M.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 501,028 Ruggles July 4, 1893 1,807,489 Middleton et a]. May 26, 1931 1,817,873 Bready Aug. 4, 1931 1,834,176 Petersonet al. Dec. 1, 1931 1,870,591 Saxon Aug. 9, 1932 2,143,699 Jensen Jan. 10, 1939 2,154,564 Eisenlohr Apr. 18, 1939 2,168,866 Gehl Aug. 8, 1939 2,536,166 Garland Jan. 2, 1951 2,545,735 Howard Mar. 20, 1951 2,595,976 Patterson May 6, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 207,053 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1939 217,698 Switzerland June .16, 1942 

